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Sue Wilde: Commissioners applauded for vision on parking deck

Posted: Thursday, November 22, 2007

The Banner-Herald couldn't be more wrong in its Friday editorial, which chastises Athens-Clarke County's mayor and commission for wanting to build a quality mixed-use parking garage downtown on a tract bounded by Washington, Clayton and Lumpkin streets.

There is nothing that deadens commercial areas more than parking garages with no street-level stores. One has only to compare the two current downtown garages to see the effects. The one next to the courthouse, with no stores, diminishes the vitality of the three streets it borders, while the street-level shops in the College Avenue garage provide a friendly facade that's inviting to pedestrians and shoppers.

Our downtown is the jewel of Athens and a magnet for tourists. The site of the proposed garage is prime real estate. Those crucial streets should be lined with shops to further enhance the appeal of downtown.

I congratulate the mayor and commissioners for their foresight and their efforts to build a lasting legacy that all of Athens will be proud of for years to come.

Sue Wilde

EDITOR'S NOTE: Friday's editorial noted that "(t)here's certainly nothing wrong with including retail and commercial space in a parking deck" because such space "serves to eliminate what would otherwise be an unsightly concrete-and-parked-cars 'addition' to the streetscape." The editorial did, however, take issue with the scope of the proposed mixed-use deck, noting that too much retail, commercial and residential space could be counterproductive to what should be the primary function of a parking deck.